Ben Williamson Walk-Off Keeps Rays Alive in World Series

Ben Williamson was 1 for 15 this postseason when Kevin Cash told him to get ready to hit. He chopped a bases-loaded single over the right side in the bottom of the 12th, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in World Series Game 4 on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field to stay alive.

The Brewers still lead the series 3-1, but the Rays are breathing. They are the first team since the 1910 Cubs to walk off in a World Series game while facing a sweep, according to MLB.com, and the first team to walk off facing elimination at all since David Freese and the 2011 Cardinals, on the same date, Oct. 27.

How Ben Williamson's walk-off happened

Milwaukee was three outs from its first championship. Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt led off the 12th with a solo homer off Ian Seymour for a 3-2 lead, and Jackson Chourio followed with a two-out double. Seymour got NLCS MVP Jake Bauers to pop out, and that was the last good news the Brewers got.

Junior Caminero opened the bottom half with a grounder to third, and Joey Ortiz's long throw bounced off Bauers' glove. Shane Drohan, pitching for the first time since Oct. 15, came on and never recorded an out. Liam Hicks singled, Jonny DeLuca singled home pinch-runner Cedric Mullins to tie it, and Chandler Simpson singled to load the bases against a five-man infield.

Then Williamson, pinch-hitting for Victor Mesa Jr., bounced his chopper over Bauers and into right field to score pinch-runner Nick Fortes. "I was thinking, 'Yeah, I've been ready to hit since the fourth or fifth inning,'" Williamson said. A day earlier he had fouled a ball off his own face. If you were a Rays fan still up past midnight, this was the one you'd been waiting all October for.

Drohan owned it afterward. "Obviously it's tough, but they called my name for a reason," he said. "And I failed."

A tight one from the start

This one was nothing like Monday's 10-1 rout. Simpson's RBI double gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead in the second, and Pratt's double tied it in the fourth. The Rays went back ahead when Brewers third baseman David Hamilton missed a tag on Caminero and threw wildly to first, and Hamilton made up for it with a solo homer in the fifth to tie it 2-2.

Then the bullpens took over, and neither team scored again until the 12th. Cash even used would-be Game 5 starter Nick Martinez for two scoreless innings of relief, which leaves Wednesday's plan in flux. The whole thing took four hours and 20 minutes. Brewers fans watching from home were probably counting down outs in the 12th, and the Trop was blasting "Walking on Sunshine" by the end.

What Game 5 means

History is still brutal for the Rays. Only five teams have forced a Game 5 after falling behind 3-0 in a World Series, and none of the previous four forced a Game 6. Across all best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Red Sox have come all the way back from 0-3.

"We've got one more day," Seymour said. "Now let's make it two more days."

Game 5 is Wednesday night at Tropicana Field, and Milwaukee gets another shot at the clincher. Pratt has done damage in both games in St. Pete: a two-run double Monday, then a run-scoring double and the 12th-inning homer Tuesday. Smacktok pick: lean higher on Cooper Pratt's total bases in Game 5.